22 February
Aji Barot, Business Development Director at HealthUnlocked
65 million people across the world are living with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Looking through the HealthUnlocked communities and the mentions of this condition, the main thing that struck me was the amount of people that declare the site to be life changing. Encouraged, I looked a little further into how COPD affected people and how people with the condition were using HealthUnlocked.
COPD refers to a group of lung conditions that make it difficult to empty air out of the lungs as your airways have been narrowed. It often goes undiagnosed and the British Lung Foundation warned earlier this year that people with breathlessness should see their GP as it could be a symptoms of a serious lung condition including COPD.
Since January this year, hundreds of conversations were started in HealthUnlocked that directly mentioned the word ‘COPD’. On top of this there were hundreds more conversations indirectly mentioning it, talking about symptoms, experiences or seeking advice. In answer and support to these, there were thousands more posts, and thousand upon thousands more people benefitting from reading the information that other people are writing. This is peer to peer support in action. HealthUnlocked exists to provide this kind of support and it is incredibly heartening to see it occur on the platform day after day. Many of us need to ask a question about our health and connecting with thousands of people going through the same struggle can make a big difference.
Here are a couple of our favourite examples of COPD posts on HealthUnlocked:
“I’m now finding that I’m using the inhaler 4/5 times a day. I feel rubbish and very tired. To be truthful I’m getting really worried and don’t quite know what my next step should be. Is it possible for my condition to be deteriorating this quickly.” See more…
“Just been diagnosed with moderate COPD. Feeling fed up and a bit scared.” See more..
“I am dealing with the effects of COPD and just getting use to the limitations that come with. Not being able to do the things I use to is kinda hard (…). Any advice will be appreciated.” See more…
“My oxygen level is down to 87% is there any way to get it back up, and is it ok to be so low” See more…
Lets spread the word – join us and tell people about our free communities for people with or affected by COPD.
In the UK? Join the British Lung Foundation (UK)
In the US? Join the COPD Friends (U.S)